29 May 2013

Taste Studio's 1st Session : "Deconstructed Layers"

Courtesy of Nadia from Taste Studio

Last Sunday, Dea and I went to this event organized by the girls (and guys!) from Taste Studio.
The event was a cooking demo starring Ardika Dwitama, a young chef who is also a friend of mine. Ardika's a student at La Cordon Bleu Adelaide with very impressive resume with experiences of working in some of the best places including Jakarta's famous UNION restaurant and also Melbourne's highly raved and loved Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio.
I had a small conversation with Nadia, one of the Taste Studio crew and here's some information about them!

What is Taste Studio and what is the background of creating this team?It basically is a gathering, where people can meet, share and taste food. There's nothing serious about it, we just like the concept because it's so much fun! And we hope those who come to the event will have lots of fun too! Anyone can join in, whether they're foodies, cooks, food enthusiast or simply just looking for something fun to do. We hope people gain something out of it The team was actually formed just 2 weeks before. It's just a small team and I think everyone was doing a great job hence the event was a success although it took a short period to prepare. We started to promote the event only a week before the event. We're quite stoked by the interest that people have in the event too and we're very glad that it went well despite the short preparation

What or who inspires the creation of Taste Studio?Actually it just popped out when I was thinking about Ardika who was working at B&P. We had this idea of making an event about food and cooking. However, the main intention of the first event was to raise fund for Mudika (a youth catholic organization) for their charity event in July. But we just like stirring things a bit and twist fund-raising event into something beneficial for everyone.

So what is the future plans for Taste Studio?

In the near future, of course we're hoping that we can do another session with improvement here and there. We hope that we can reach more people to spread the happiness and the fun in learning, sharing and tasting food!

I was very impressed with the whole idea of doing fundraising through a cooking demo.It's the cutest thing ever!
You can gain knowledge, sample some yummy food and also donate for a good cause.
How awesome is that!?

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Their first session was titled "Deconstructed Layers", which was very intriguing and fun to watch. Ardika prepared 2 dishes consisting a number of components. The dishes are very clean, simple and yummy (of course). I can see how his style is greatly influenced by the modern desserts created from Burch & Purchese sweet studio where he did his internship. I was pleasantly entertained by the whole cooking demonstration and we got to sample all of the desserts too!

Coconut, Lemon and Mango

First dish, the 'Coconut, Lemon & Mango'.
This dish consist of coconut sponge, lemon curd, coconut sago, and mango sorbet.
Chef Ardika did every elements except for the mango sorbet (since they don't have an ice cream maker on the spot).
Most of the elements are surprisingly simple and easy to do, but will I have the will to try it at home? We'll see about that.
But I am interested to try and make the coconut sponge. I still can remember how the room smelled like toasted coconut (which was amazingly fragrant) when the sponge was baking in the oven.
Can't complain about the coconut sago either. It was creamy but still light, spot on!
Dea and I were raving about the mango sorbet and we were sad when we finished the last bite of it. It was tangy and sweet at the same time. Very refreshing !

Chocolate, Vanilla and Salted Caramel

Second dish is called 'Chocolate, Vanilla & Salted Caramel'
It's chocolate delice (a kind of mousse), vanila and salted caramel ice cream and peanut brittle.
Presentation was superb. It's two quinnelles of the chocolate delice and ice cream scattered with other small components and garnishes.
I have always wanted to see how to make those football shaped ice cream!
Apparently, we can 'quenelle' other things too such as whipped cream, sour cream, and even pate!
I'm going to try this technique at home when I'm feeling fancy.
Too bad Chef Ardika only showed how to make the chocolate delice from scratch due to the limited time and equipment.

All and all, this event was a success!

Great atmosphere, great people, great food.

I wish Taste Studio Team the best of luck and I'm looking forward for their next events in the future,I'm totally up for it!Great job !